Mini-Review: Stemflow as a Resource Limitation to Near-Stem Soils.

ABSTRACT: Stemflow, a precipitation and solute supply to soils near tree stems, can play a wide array of roles in ecosystem functioning. However, stemflow's ecohydrological functions have been primarily studied in forests with voluminous stemflow because resource subsidy is currently considered stemflow's only impact on near-stem soils. This common assumption ignores controls that stemflow generation may exert via resource limitation (when stemflow < open rainfall and near-stem throughfall is negligible). We reviewed selected literature across numerous forests to evaluate the predominance of stemflow as a potential resource limitation to near-stem soils and characterized the concentrated, but meager, solute flux from low stemflow generators. Global observations of stemflow were highly skewed (skewne

SUBMITTER: Van Stan JT 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5835114 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature